We're thrilled to bring you the newest chapter of Tales From the Co-Op! If you missed our latest post in this series, be sure to catch up with the July Exchanges.
The LibAnswers 24/7 Global Chat Cooperative ensures continuous chat support for your library’s LibChat service. Staffed by our MLS-degreed Springy librarians and cooperative members from contributing libraries, we provide seamless chat coverage around the clock.
By participating in the Co-Op, your patrons receive immediate assistance from skilled librarians, regardless of your local staff's availability. Whether your librarians are busy with other chats, LibChat is unstaffed after hours, or you want to ensure consistent chat support while focusing on in-person interactions, the 24/7 Chat Co-Op has you covered!
In Tales From the Co-Op, we're sharing snippets of real-life interactions between patrons and Co-Op librarians. We'll take every opportunity we can to highlight amazing interactions from the Chat Cooperative—but don't just take our word for it. One patron commented on their Co-Op chat experience to say, "Amazing, way past expectations. Thank you so much for making this service available to students!!!!!!" (Note the six—yes, six—exclamation points!)
Please note that we care about privacy as much as you do, so we've removed all identifiable details from these transcripts and we've given fun aliases to patrons and the answering Co-Op librarians.
Curious Queries
This chat highlights some of the interesting and unique questions our Co-Op librarians receive on a daily basis. Every patron has unique needs when it comes to accessing materials, and librarians do an amazing job of guiding and supporting them to find exactly what they need.
June 29, 2024 | 12:53 am
Paul Patron: Is there a way for me to have my text read aloud to me while I read it?
Lisa Librarian: Hi, I'm Lisa, and I'm helping your librarians answer questions today.
Lisa Librarian: What is it you need to read?
Paul Patron: Health, Illness, and Optimal Aging, Second Edition : Biological and Psychosocial Perspectives, from proquest ebook central
Lisa Librarian: Let me check to see what the text to speech options are.
Paul Patron: Thank you so much
Lisa Librarian: Here is the information from ebook central about text to speech
Lisa Librarian: Ebook Central does not offer an embedded text-to-speech tool, however downloaded files can be used with a range of text-to-speech tools. Free tools and plugins can be helpful, but users should check reviews and download sites before installing.
-
- Built into the Microsoft Edge browser
- Built into most digital devices
- Available as a browser plug-in for Chrome and Firefox
- Ebook Central: Text Only Mode for Screen Readers (proquest.com)
- How To Turn Text Only Mode On (or Off) on Ebook Central (proquest.com)
Lisa Librarian: If you can use Microsoft Edge, it is built in to the browser and here is information on how to use it
Lisa Librarian: Read aloud (Microsoft Edge)
Paul Patron: oh this looks good!
Paul Patron: do they have one for chrome?
Lisa Librarian: I think there is a plug in, but let me check
Lisa Librarian: Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader (Chrome)
Paul Patron: thank you so much
Lisa Librarian: You are very welcome. I hope it works well for you!
Spotlight on Librarian Excellence
Librarians provide incredible reference support every day, and this includes our Co-Op librarians! Take a look at this chat for an example of some of that great librarian work.
March 1, 2024 | 9:17 pm
Padma Patron: I am trying to do research on how paid leave should be funded federally so that all people can get access to it, and I am struggling to find research information on how other countries have implemented paid leave on a federal level and how it gave them a good outcome.
Logan Librarian: Hi! It sounds like you'd like some research support.
Logan Librarian: It also sounds like you've done some searching already--where, and with what keywords or terms? I don't want to repeat any searches you may have done.
Padma Patron: Yes please! I went on gale wellness and health, and did advance searches some of the words I used were, paid family leave & federal, childcare & paid family leave, family and medical act of 1933, parental leave, countries & paid family leave
Logan Librarian: I think we should try your library catalog*. It will search more than one database at a time.
Logan Librarian: Next, we're going to want to enter our search in a way the system understands--it's not as smart as Google.
Padma Patron: Okay!
Logan Librarian: We're going to combine your primary keywords in the code the system understands, like this: "paid family leave" AND "government funded"
Logan Librarian: This should give us a general idea of what your library has on the topic, and we can revise or refine from there.
Padma Patron: Great!
Logan Librarian: I didn't get any results with that, so I'm going to just search: "paid family leave"
Logan Librarian: If we search for that, and filter the results to peer-reviewed articles available online, we get these results: search results*
Logan Librarian: Take a look at those, and let me know if we're on the right path.
Padma Patron: These are good but I need more information on how other countries other than the U.S. implemented
Logan Librarian: We can try to revise our search for that. Are you focusing on a specific country?
Padma Patron: Canada, Britain, Japan, Norway, Brazil. Any of those
Logan Librarian: Okay, I added those as secondary search terms, like this: "paid family leave" AND (Canada OR Britain OR Japan OR Brazil OR Norway)
Logan Librarian: That tells the system we want any articles about paid family leave and any one of those countries.
Logan Librarian: We're using what's called Boolean logic. It operates on the same principles as PEMDAS and order of operations in math equations.
Padma Patron: that's interesting, thank you for showing me that!
Padma Patron: These are great
Logan Librarian: Great! Is there anything else I may help you with?
Padma Patron: I think for right now I am all good, Thank you so much for help!
*Links to institution's catalog and search removed for privacy
FAQ-tastic Interactions
This interaction is an excellent example of how Co-Op librarians across the world can use LibAnswers FAQs to streamline chat convos and provide consistent service, chat after chat!
May 12, 2024 | 10:38 pm
Patty Patron: Hi, I'm an alumna. Can I request a book from another library in the system?
Lyla Librarian: Hi! We can check your library's policies to see whether they offer ILL services to alumni.
Lyla Librarian: One moment, please.
Patty Patron: Thank you!
Lyla Librarian: I found information on ILL here: Interlibrary Loan FAQ*
Lyla Librarian: "You can borrow items that the Library does not have in its collections via our interlibrary services. Please note: Requesting services are only available to current students, staff, and faculty."
Patty Patron: I guess that answers that! Thank you!
Lyla Librarian: You are most welcome!
*Link to institution's FAQ removed for privacy
For more information about the 24/7 Global Chat Cooperative, contact sales@springshare.com.